Scar Tissue
by Expecto Patjonesy
Summary: Ellie Williams is a regulation delinquent whose been in so many different foster homes they're starting to blend together. Her social worker is at the end of her rope when she convinces an old friend to take her on. Joel and Sarah Miller are as overbearing as they could be, but between them and the mischievous girl who's always in detention, Ellie could grow to like Texas.
1. Hay and Belt Buckles

Ellie watched the Texas countryside flash by through the window of Marlene's beat up Honda. Marlene was chatting away in the seat beside her, not noticing Ellie's lack of attention. Ellie couldn't blame her, though. Filling the silence with meaningless facts about the state of Texas was better than focusing on the reason they were going.

"Ellie? Are you even listening to me?"

 _Shit._

"Of course. Texas. The state of hay bales and belt buckles." Ellie crossed her arms and continued trying to burn a hole through the window with her glare.

"Ellie." Marlene glanced at the sulking teen. "You can at least try to act pleasant. I realize you've been through a lot lately, but-"

"Don't." Ellie transferred her glare from the trees to Marlene. "Just, don't." Marlene gave Ellie a look that was so disgustingly pitiful that she felt like she was going to throw up. "So, what's this guy's name again?"

"Joel." Marlene said, grateful for the change of subject. "He's a little rough around the edges, but a good man just the same. His daughter, Sarah, is only a couple years younger than you. That'll be fun, having another girl around."

Ellie gave her a tight lipped smile and resumed ignoring Marlene.

"And your new school is one of the biggest in the south, so you shouldn't have a problem making friends. Someone for everyone, you know?" Marlene prattled on.

"You're acting like this isn't the thousandth time I've done this."

"Well, if that's the case, then maybe this time you can learn to behave yourself." Marlene perfectly raised her eyebrow, something Ellie grudgingly respected. You could say a lot about the woman, but she was fantastic at raising her eyebrow. One flick and she could probably silence a room. "Honestly Ellie, you need to make an effort here. You're out of strikes, and I'm at the end of my rope. If you get busted for anything, and I do mean anything, you're heading straight to juvie. Don't make me watch that happen."

Ellie sat up straighter and flexed her jaw. "I know all this, okay? Last chance, no more fighting, yada yada yada. And for the record, that last one wasn't my fault, alright?"

"The guy was in the hospital for two weeks Ellie! You're lucky we could make the argument for self-defense because there was a witness. And you still ended up being expelled, kiddo."

"Phssh. The principle over-reacted." Ellie flexed her fingers, thankful the bruises on her knuckles had vanished. Her new foster dad would be guarded enough without seeing evidence of her "tendency towards violence".

"Well, you can be sure that Joel won't tolerate any of that in his home. Especially around his daughter. I've met Sarah a couple of times. Sweet kid. She's sure to be excited that you're coming to stay with them."

"As long as I don't have to share a room with her, I'm sure we'll be fine." Ellie said without looking at Marlene.

"Hey, look. Here's our street." Marlene turned into a subdivision that looked like it came right out of an ABC family sitcom. Two or three story houses with barbecues outside and white fucking picket fences. Oh well. At least she'd be miserable in comfort. Ellie counted at least six little kids playing basketball in one driveway. Either it was the Cheaper By The Dozen family or this was one of those weird communal neighborhoods. She seriously hoped it was the first.

Marlene pulled the car into the drive way of a white house near the end of the street. The grass looked like it could use a mowing, and the bushes had seen better days.

"Here we are kiddo. This is the Miller's house." Ellie waited for Marlene to get out of the car before she began unbuckling her seatbelt. Marlene gestured for her to hurry up and Ellie reluctantly opened the door and stepped onto the driveway.

 _'_ _Here we are."_ Ellie thought glumly. ' _Foster home number twelve.'_ She pulled her backpack, one of the only things she considered hers, and slung it over one shoulder. Marlene gently grasped her elbow and led her towards the door.

"Do you want to ring it?" Marlene gestured towards the fancy doorbell. Ellie gave her a look and crossed her arms. Marlene chuckled at the look on her face and rung the door bell. The first ring had barely sounded before the door had swung open, revealing the face of a blond haired kid who was wearing an ear-splitting grin.

"You're here!" Blondie flung her arms around Ellie. Ellie stiffened and the girl released her, grin never faltering. "I'm so excited to meet you! We're gonna be at the same school and I can show you around and maybe introduce you to some of my friends and the-"

"Whoa there Sarah. Don't want to scare her off, do we?" A man with a thick Southern accent appeared behind Blondie and gave Ellie a once over. Marlene was right. 'Rough around the edges' described this guy perfectly. Brown hair shot with gray was brushed back from a tan forehead. He had a course beard that was trimmed short, and was in remarkably good shape for someone who looked to be in his late forties, maybe even early fifties. He locked eyes with Ellie and held out his hand.

"I'm Joel. You must be Ellie."


	2. Be Good

Ellie stared at the hand extended towards her for a moment before taking it. She avoided looking the man in the eye when she pulled back as quickly as possible. The others were looking at her, clearly waiting for her to say something.

"Uh, hi."

"Come on in, you two." Joel waved them inside and shut the door. "Living room's right in there, make yourself comfortable."

"Actually Joel, can I talk to you for a minute? Privately?" Marlene said. Ellie sighed internally. Of course the mandatory warning about her past endeavors was going to happen. She had just thought Marlene would wait until she had spoken more than two words to the guy.

"'Course. Sarah, why don't you give Ellie a little tour of the house. We'll be in the kitchen if you need us." Joel said. He led Marlene towards the kitchen and made a shooing gesture towards Sarah, who just rolled her eyes.

"C'mon Ellie. Let me show you upstairs." Sarah led Ellie to the second floor of the house. Ellie counted five framed photos of Sarah along the staircase. There was one that showed a little girl around five who must have been Sarah on Joel's knee. They were both covered in mud and grinning widely at the camera. It was cute.

The door on the right of the top of the stairs was slightly open and Ellie could hear the tv from the hall.

"Seriously Dad?" Sarah huffed. "He always forgets to turn that off." She smiled at Ellie. "Down here is my room, and yours is directly across from it. Bathroom's right there, and if you need any extra blankets there's a closet right there." Ellie nodded and played with the end of her sleeve.

"Thanks." She nodded her head at Sarah and gave her small smile. Sarah was eager and it was endearing, but Ellie knew better than to get attached.

"Hey, she speaks!" Sarah's grin grew from bright to megawatt. "So…what do you think they're talking about down there?"

' _The possibilities of the things I could do to get sent to juvie.'_ Ellie thought. "Oh, you know. Paperwork and shit like that." Ellie figured out pretty quick that by filtering the truth foster homes worked better. Plus, Sarah was being pretty nice. Best not to crush the kids dream of having a sister who'll gossip and do her hair just yet.

"Oh right. It's weird how complicated this whole thing is. Dad had to sign like a million papers so you could live with us."

"Well the government is making an effort to make sure I don't get put with an axe murderer." The words came out before Ellie could stop them. Sarah flushed and ducked her head.

"Yeah, that makes sense."

Ellie opened her mouth to try to reassure the kid, but was interrupted by a yell from downstairs.

"Girls! Come on down!" Joel's voice echoed from downstairs. Sarah and Ellie made their way down the staircase and sat down on the coach where Marlene and Joel were waiting for them. "What'd you think of the house, Ellie?"

"It's nice." Ellie said. "My own room and everything."

"Glad you like it." Joel's lips twitched up, the closest thing to a smile Ellie had seen from him yet.

"Ellie? Can I borrow you for a second?" Marlene put her hand on Ellie's shoulder.

"Do I have a choice?" Ellie muttered under her breath.

"You two can go into the office for a little privacy, if you want." Joel said. Marlene shot him a thankful smile and pulled Ellie into the office with her. She gently closed the door and turned to Ellie.

"I know what you're going to say." Ellie crossed her arms.

Marlene cocked an eyebrow, damn her. "Do you now?"

"Yeah." Ellie said. "You're going to tell me to make smart decisions, make good friends, and try not to get booted out within the first month." Ellie rattled off the list like she'd heard it a thousand times before, which she had. Marlene was fond of "pep talks" before ditching Ellie in her new foster home until her mandatory check-in date.

"Actually, I was going to tell you-" Marlene paused. "Exactly that. Smart ass."

"You do give the same speech every time you drop me off. It's not hard to commit to memory."

Marlene gave Ellie a smile. "Well, let's hope that this is the last time I have to give my 'speech'." She ruffled Ellie's hair. "And I'm gonna add on something. Try to cut back on the language around Sarah. I know you, and I don't want you being a bad influence on that sweet little kid."

"Yeah yeah yeah. I know the drill. No cursing around Blondie, got it."

Marlene's mouth twitched. "Blondie?"

"What? She's blonde, alright? The name fits, Marlene!" Ellie said, suddenly self-conscious. Marlene let out a laugh.

"One last thing, Ellie. I haven't told Joel about…why you got kicked out of your last foster home. I thought it might be easier if he doesn't know." Marlene spoke softly.

"It's not my fault my last foster mom was a bigoted ass." Ellie complained.

"She caught you with a girl in her basement, Ellie. And not in an innocent position." Marlene pressed her fingers to her temples. "Just…don't let it happen again, okay?"

"Let what happen again?" Ellie challenged. "Getting caught? Or sleeping with a girl?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Marlene sighed. "You need to learn to stop thinking everyone is out to get you."

"Whatever." Ellie scowled.

"We should go out and join them, now that that's out of the way." Marlene said. "They must be wondering what's taking so long."

Joel and Sarah had turned on the tv and were running commentary on some sort of sitcom.

"Oh come on! That's so unrealistic!" Sarah gestured to the screen.

Joel chuckled. "It's television, sweetheart. It's not supposed to be realistic." The two sat up when they noticed Ellie and Marlene had joined them.

"You two were in there for a while. What were you talking about?" Sarah piped up.  
"Nothing that concerns you, kiddo." Joel said.

"Well, it was lovely seeing you two, but I really have to go." Marlene zipped up her jacket. "It's getting late and it's a long drive home."

Joel got up from his spot on the coach to see Marlene out.

"Ellie." Marlene said right before she opened the door. She looked Ellie in the eyes and said, "Be good." And with that, Marlene was gone, leaving Ellie alone with the father-daughter duo.


	3. Rules And Pizza

"Pizza's on the counter. You like pizza, Ellie?" Joel shifted.

"Of course she likes pizza, Dad. Who doesn't?" Sarah rolled her eyes. "Unless of course you don't. That's fine too." She back pedaled seeing the lack of enthusiasm on Ellie's face.

"Pizza's fine." Ellie said. "Really, I like it." Sarah's grin returned full force and turned to make a dash for the kitchen, Joel chuckling behind her. Ellie made her way to the kitchen, took the dish Joel silently held out for her, and grabbed three slices.

"Uh-uh, kid. Table." Joel made a point of sitting at the dining room table and gestured for Sarah, who had plopped herself onto the couch, to take a seat.

"What? But we never sit at the table." Sarah cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"It's Ellie's first night here, we are going to sit at the table." Joel said.

"But it's pizza…" Sarah groaned and dragged herself over to her chair. Ellie took a seat across from her and took a bite. The pizza wasn't half bad.

 _'_ _At least the food doesn't suck.'_ Ellie thought, mentally giving Texas a point on a mental scoreboard. She liked to try to rank the places she'd lived from best to worst. Her favourite had been Miami. Beaches, near constant sunshine, and her foster parents had mostly let her do her own thing. On the opposite end of the scale was Georgia. She tried to block that place out of her mind as much as possible.

"So Ellie," Joel made a stab at conversation, "how was the drive here?"

"How long was it?" Sarah chimed in.

Ellie shrugged. "It was fine. Took about three hours to get here. Lots of trees."

"Three _hours_?" Sarah's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. "How are you alive? I can barely go twenty minutes in car."

"That's true. I swear, anytime I take you anywhere that requires you being in a car you spend the whole time complaining and asking how long until we get there." Joel said. "Nice to have someone in the house with some patience." Ellie's lips twitched up at that.

' _If only he knew.'_ She fought off the urge to laugh. "It's not that big a deal. I guess I'm just used to traveling." Immediately she wished she hadn't said it, because for a brief second Ellie saw the pity that flashed across Joel and Sarah's faces.

"Right. You would be by now." Joel awkwardly scratched at his beard.

"What school am I going to?" Ellie burst out, desperate to change the subject.

"Lincoln High. It's about a ten-minute drive from here." Joel seemed grateful for the switch. "Sarah goes to the middle school down the road."

"I wish we were going to the same one." Sarah said, disappointed.

"What grade are you in?" Ellie asked.

"Seven." Sarah answered, taking another bite of pizza. "You're a sophomore, right?"

"Yeah."

"While we're on the topic, Ellie, I've got some bad news. We wanted you to have time to settle in first, but Marlene insisted on you starting next Monday." Joel looked down at his plate, trying not to meet Ellie's eyes. "I was hoping you could have time to adjust, given it's the middle of the semester, but- "

"Don't worry about it." Ellie interrupted. "I'll be fine." She shrugged, unconcerned. This was hardly the first time she'd started at a new school in the middle of the semester. She wouldn't even have to worry about the fact she was the new kid. A school in Austen was bound to be huge. Ellie would barely be a blip on the radar.

Dinner carried out with Sarah making jokes, Joel grunting but smiling just the same, and Ellie only contributing the bare minimum. There was only so much time she could spend 'bonding' with her foster family.

 _'_ _Rule number one,'_ Ellie thought. _'never get attached.'_ There were a lot of rules that Ellie tried her best keep, but they all boiled down to the same thing. Make sure that leaving caused the least amount of pain as possible. Her first couple foster homes she didn't have the rules, and Ellie had quickly figured out that being in the system didn't work well without them. Luckily, a lot of foster homes didn't require much effort to keep them. After all, she was getting older. The older the kid got, the less likely some kind-hearted couple was going to take them in and raise them as their own. Older foster kid's tended to have a reputation. It was unfair, but it was the world. Most people who took on teenagers, Ellie found, saw them as a meal ticket. As far as she could see, the Millers didn't fall into that category, but she could never be sure. Her fourth foster dad had been nice at first too.

Ellie quickly stood up. "Can I go up to my room now? Long day." Ellie barely heard the rounds of 'of course's' and tried not to run up the stairs. Stupid, stupid stupid. David was a rule too. He fell under the 'things not to think about or dwell on ever' category.

She made her way into her bedroom and shut the door. It was simple, but functional. A double bed with blue sheets was made up and there was desk against the far wall. An empty corkboard hung to the right of the bedside table. Ellie walked over to the window. There was a tree within climbing distance, which was comforting. At least she had an escape route if needed. The bookshelf was stacked with books that Ellie assumed Sarah must have read at some point. The entire Harry Potter collection was there, along with a few teen fiction authors. It was sorted alphabetically, Ellie noted. She ran her fingers along the spines of the books, occasionally pulling out one's that looked interesting. Ellie pulled out a copy of the first Twilight book that looked like it had seen better days. Picturing Sarah dragging Joel to see the movies had Ellie laughing as she plopped onto her bed.

"This is pretty comfy." Ellie murmured. She took off her shirt and pulled on a battered tank top and flannel pajama pants. She crawled under the cover's and flicked off the light. Sleep overtook her as she stared at the ceiling trying to think about anything other than the fact that there's two people who are more of a family than she's ever had a floor below her.


	4. Home Hardware and Fireflies

**Just to be clear, this is definitely not an Ellie/Sarah story. 100% Riley/Ellie.**

 **I do not own The Last of Us.**

 _Fire was everywhere. Orange flames consumed Ellie's bedroom door and was creeping towards her. She backed up to the window, looking around in panic. She was trapped. Ellie whipped her head back and forth, desperately trying to figure a way out. The fire was closing in, and Ellie only had one option. She shut her eyes and hurled herself out the window. She braced herself for the impact of the hard ground and slammed into it with a hard thud. Ellie couldn't do anything but lay there and groan to herself. The sky wasn't its usual blue, but a burning red._

"Ellie?" A voice cut through. "Hey, are you okay?"

Ellie propelled forward, clutching the sheets of the bed. Her skin was damp and she was breathing heavily. She shook her head, trying to make sense of her surroundings. Small room, blue sheets, a spinning fan in the corner. And a blonde girl looking at her in concern. Oh. Right. The Miller's house came with Sarah.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ellie rubbed her eyes. "Bad dream is all."

"Don't you hate bad dreams? I only have them once in a while, but they're the worst." Sarah said. "Dad always gets them. If you ever hear anyone bumbling downstairs in the middle of the night, that's him. He's always in a bad mood in the morning after."

"Girls! Breakfast is ready!" A voice yelled from downstairs.

"Speak of the devil." Sarah said. The two girls made their way down to the kitchen. Joel was putting what looked like bacon and eggs onto three different plates. He was wearing a ridiculous looking apron that Ellie was sure no one but Sarah knew about.

"Morning you two. 'Bout time you woke up, Ellie. You slept later than I did." Joel said as he handed the plates to the girls. "Television's on in the living room, might as well catch up on the news."

"That's code for 'this formal and polite shit is over now', Ellie." Sarah said. Ellie cracked a grin, and even Joel looked like he was trying to fight a smile.

"Yeah, yeah. Language, kiddo. Just because Tommy has a trucker mouth doesn't mean you get to have one." Joel chastened, but the hint of a smile on his face took the harshness out of his words.

"Tommy?" Ellie asked.

"My uncle." Sarah explained. "He's a police officer. He goes undercover a lot though, so he's working in the same construction company as Dad as a cover." Ellie nodded, and went back to shoveling eggs into her mouth. Once again, the food was good. Nice to know last night wasn't a fluke.

"Undercover? Like a narc?" Ellie asked.

"Sort of. Uncle Tommy will go undercover for different jobs to catch drug dealers. He's like a narc, but for adults." Sarah said. Her eyes were glinting with excitement. "It's pretty cool, actually."

"And not a topic for kids." Joel's eyebrows knit together. "And how did you even know he was working with me and the construction company?" Sarah shrugged.

"He told me."

Joel sighed and ran his hands though his hair. "Of course he did." He sat up and walked over to the kitchen, putting his dishes into the sink. "Say, Ellie, you'll be needing school supplies for tomorrow, won't you?"

"Uh, yeah." Ellie said. "I mean, it's not that big a deal, just a couple of pencils and a few notebooks. I have a backpack."

"Might as well head to the store, I think Sarah needs some more paper for her binder anyway." Joel said.

"Yes!" Sarah made a fist and pumped the air. "Are we leaving now?"

"Soon as Ellie gets changed." Joel said. Ellie got the message and headed upstairs. She quickly made her way towards her backpack in her room. Ellie pulled on a red t-shirt and the same jeans she wore yesterday. Quickly pulling her hair back into a ponytail, she took a moment to look at herself in the mirror. Same not really blue, but not green eyes and freckles. The scar on her eyebrow was almost invisible in her bedroom light. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be the same for her uncanny resemblance to Ellen Page.

"Ellie? Are you coming?" Sarah called from downstairs.

"Just a sec." Ellie yelled back. Giving herself one last one-over, Ellie left the room and made her way downstairs. Sarah was pacing around the room and Joel was back to watching the television.

"Finally, you took forever." Sarah groaned. "C'mon, let's go." She gestured violently at Joel to get up. He rolled his eyes but walked over and opened the door for Sarah and Ellie. The two girls made their way to Joel's truck.

"Ellie, you take the front. I'm smaller, I can fit in the back easier." Said Sarah.

"Not that much smaller." Joel chuckled.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Ellie crossed her arms. "Did you just crack a short joke? I'll have you know I'm five-two, a perfectly respectable height." Joel and Sarah looked at each other and grinned, shaking their heads. Ellie pouted and crossed her arms. "I am not short." She grumbled.

"Of course not." Sarah laughed. "But you do realise that five-five is the average height of a female, right?" Ellie narrowed her eyes and made a ' _hmpf_ ' sound.

"Now, now girls, no fighting." Said Joel.

"You're the one that started it." Ellie grumbled. Joel just laughed and pulled out of the drive way.

"Are we going to the one in the city, Dad?" Sarah asked.

"No, the one just outside." Joel made a right turn, and they started down a dirt road. Ellie noticed a farm that looked like it had seen better days.

"But the one in the city is so much better." Sarah whined and pouted. "Please?"

"The one outside will work, Sarah. We're looking for pencils, remember?" Joel said. "Besides, it's right up ahead."

"And next to a Home Hardware." Sarah said. "That's why we're going to this one, isn't it?"

Joel didn't answer and pulled into the parking lot. Sarah was right, on the left of the office supplies store was a giant hardware store.

"Now, I'm gonna head in and pick up some supplies-"

"Knew it." Sarah whispered to Ellie.

"You two go in there and pick up what you need." Joel pulled out his wallet and handed the two some bills. "What you need, Sarah. Not what you want." He gave her a stern look and headed into the hardware store.

"He just trusts us to buy school supplies with this?" Ellie asked disbelievingly. Sarah just shrugged.

"He trusts me." She said. "Now come on, inside there's air-conditioning." Sarah pulled Ellie through the doors. The blasts of cool air were beyond welcome. Ellie had been boiling in the Texan sun. The heat here was different from Florida. There it had been a moist heat, and the option of jumping into the ocean was always there. Here, it was a dry heat that sucked out the moisture from everything.

Sarah grabbed a cart and the two picked out supplies. Ellie made sure to pick out the ones that were as cheap as possible. Sarah raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. At least the girl wasn't completely nosey. Ellie didn't have the energy to explain that she didn't want to feel like she owed the Miller's anymore than she had to. She found that the less she accepted from her foster families, the less guilt she had when she ran away, and it didn't hurt as much if she was kicked out.

"What the fuck man? You think you can just show up here after what you did?" A muffled voice cut through Ellie's thoughts. A very _pissed off_ muffled voice. Ellie whipped around until she found the source. A group of people had gathered in the parking lot, and they were shouting at each other loud enough for Ellie to hear in the store.

"Ellie, we need to move to the back of the store." Sarah gripped her arm so tight it was almost painful.

"Wait." Ellie breathed, fascinated with what was going on outside. There was an obvious size disadvantage between the two groups. It looked like the fight was six on two, and it looked like the two weren't doing so well. The guy that looked like the leader of the group of six had pinned one of the other guys down onto the ground, and was punching him repeatedly.

" _Ellie._ " Sarah shook her. "We need to find Dad." The fight was growing uglier, as the other one of the two had his hands forced behind his back and was getting punched in the stomach.

The sharp sounds of police sirens filled the air, and the winning group let go of the other two immediately and bolted out of the parking lot. By the time the police pulled in, the six were long gone. Ellie watched as the two on the ground were handcuffed and put into the back of the police cruiser.

"Oh good." Sarah relaxed. "That was freaky. I thought they were going to…you know."

"What?" Ellie raised and eyebrow. "Kill the two guys?" Sarah visibly winced. "They wouldn't have, not with this many people watching. Who even were they?"

"I didn't know at first, but I got a glimpse of a dog tag while they were running away." Sarah bit her lip. "They're called Fireflies."

"Fireflies?" Ellie cocked her head in confusion. "Like the bug?"

"Well, yeah. It's the name of their gang. The Fireflies have been getting bigger and bigger the last couple of years. They're always in the news because they do…things. Really bad things." Sarah looked uncomfortable, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "They scare me, a little."

"How'd you know?" Ellie asked. "That they were Fireflies, I mean."

"Like I mentioned, I saw their dog tags. Every Firefly has one." Sarah said. "Pretty stupid if you ask me. Why would you have physical evidence if you're in a gang wanted by the police?"

"Are they that bad?" Ellie asked. She looked again at the spot where the Fireflies had been arguing, and at the blood splattered on the ground.

"Worse. Dad always says that if you ever meet anyone who's a Firefly, you need to get as far away from them as possible."


End file.
